Poll: Most people expect home prices to keep rising

NEW YORK – April 26, 2017 – Sixty-one percent of U.S. adults believe home prices in their local area will rise over the next 12 months, according to a recent Gallup poll – the highest percentage since Gallup began collecting this data in 2005. Between 2008 and 2012, no more than one-third of Americans believed home prices would increase.

Residents in the western U.S. are the most optimistic, with nearly three-quarters of residents saying they expect price increases, compared to slightly more than half of Midwestern and Eastern residents, according to Gallup.

With mortgage rates sitting below 4 percent, consumers may have more incentive to act now before home prices rise even more.

Sixty-seven percent of U.S. adults say it's a good time to purchase a home, which is down slightly from the 2012-to-2014 period when at least 70 percent said so. Unsurprisingly, homeowners (74 percent) are more likely than renters (56 percent) to say it's a good time to purchase a home, according to the poll.

Higher home prices and declining views of homeownership may be behind the dip in those who say it's a good time to buy, Gallup researchers note.

Source: "More in U.S. Expect Local Home Values to Rise," Gallup.com (April 24, 2017)